Amy Lavine is the founder and principal attorney at Liberty Street Legal PLLC. An accomplished attorney with over 15 years of experience across multiple legal discipline, Lavine focuses her practice on defending individuals' civil rights and civil liberties, advocating for real access to justice, and fighting for government transparency and accountability. Lavine is admitted to practice in New York State and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to establishing Liberty Street Legal, Lavine spent five years as a staff attorney at the Government Law Center at Albany Law School. There, she researched and published extensively in law journals, presented at conferences nationwide, and provided pro bono legal services, including as part of the Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn legal team in litigation challenging the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case. Lavine also served as pro bono counsel to New York State Senator Bill Perkins in relation to his proposed eminent domain reform legislation, and she represented him as amicus curiae in litigation challenging the use of eminent domain for Columbia University's Manhattanville campus expansion in West Harlem.

Following her tenure at the Government Law Center, Lavine established a creative services company called Sketch Hudson, which she owned and operated from 2012 to 2018. She subsequently served as an assistant county attorney for Warren and Ulster Counties, and as assistant corporation counsel for the City of Albany. Before founding Liberty Street Legal in 2024, Lavine also worked as an associate attorney at Harris Beach PLLC and J&G Law LLP, focusing on public finance and municipal law. Since 2012, Lavine has also continued her academic work as a contributing writer and editor for two legal treatises, Salkin's American Law of Zoning and New York Zoning Law & Practice, 4th ed.

Lavine holds a J.D. from Albany Law School (2004-2007), where she was an editor for the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology, and she also earned a diplôme des études juridiques européennes et internationales (certificate of European and international legal studies) through a student exchange program with the University of Paris. She earned her B.A. magna cum laude from Bard College at Simon's Rock (1998-2002), where she attended as an eary scholar and graduated at age 19.

Selected cases

• Simpson v. City of Albany Board of Zoning Appeals, Index No. 3013-20 (NY Sup Ct, Albany County 6/22/20)

• People v. Montes, File Nos.20000303, 19752991, 19807574, 20057014, 20057950, 20075582, 20083943, 19831789, 19859348, 19782621, 20019307, 20101532, 100049699 (NY City Ct, City of Albany 2/4/20)

• Mahar v. Warren County Board of Supervisors, 768 Fed. Appx. 45 (2d Cir. 2019)

• Matter of Whitehead v. Warren County Board of Supervisors, 165 A.D.3d 1452 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dept. 2018)

• Tuck-It-Away, Inc. v. N.Y. State Urban Dev. Corp., 131 S.Ct. 822 (2010) (cert. denied)

• Kaur v. N.Y.S. Urban Dev. Corp., 15 N.Y.3d 235 (2010)

Selected publications

• In the Zone of Fire: Land Use Restrictions for Shooting Ranges, Gun Dealers, and Similar Uses, Zoning and Planning Law Report, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Mar. 2016)

• The Judiciary and Judicial Reform (coauthored by Patricia Salkin), in The Oxford Handbook of New York State Government (Gerald Benjamin, ed., 2012)

• From Slum Clearance to Economic Development: The History of Urban Renewal Legislation in New York State, 4 Alb. Gov’t L. Rev. 212 (2011)

• The Use of Development Moratoria in New York State, New York Zoning Law and Practice Report, Vol. 11, No. 1 (July/August 2010)

• Urban Redevelopment Policy, Judicial Deference to Unaccountable Agencies, and Reality in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Project (coauthored by Norman Oder), 42 Urb. Law. 287 (Spring 2010)

• Urban Renewal and the Story of Berman v. Parker, 42 Urb. Law. 423 (Spring 2010)

• Community Benefits Agreements and Comprehensive Planning: Balancing Community Empowerment and the Police Power (coauthored by Patricia Salkin), 18 Brooklyn J. L. & Pol’y 157 (2010)

• Sunshine in the Statehouse: Financial Disclosure Requirements for Public Officials (coauthored by Leah Rush), in Ethical Standards in the Public Sector: A Guide for Government Lawyers, Clients, and Public Officials (2d ed. 2008, Patricia Salkin, ed.)

• Avenues Toward City-County Consolidation in New York, NYSBA Government, Law and Policy Journal (Winter 2007)

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